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Who Saved Israel in 1947?
The usual answer is Truman—but it could just as easily be Stalin. In fact, thanks to Zionist diplomacy, it was both; and therein lies a lesson for the Jewish state today.
Ben-Gurion’s Army: How the IDF Came into Being (and Almost Didn’t)
On the eve of Israel’s statehood in 1948, with the massed forces of five Arab nations threatening invasion, David Ben-Gurion picked a fight with his own army. Why?
The Strategy Washington Is Pursuing in the Middle East Is the Only Strategy Worth Pursuing
America needs to back up its allies (Israel, Saudi Arabia, and potentially Turkey), and isolate its adversaries (Iran, Russia, China, Islamic State). Everything else is secondary.
Mizrahi Nation
Long shut out of the country’s story, Middle Eastern Jews now make up half of Israel’s population, influencing its culture in surprising ways. Who are they?
The Return of Bernard Lewis
Forty years ago, nobody foresaw the rise of radical Islam—except for the preeminent historian who both predicted and explained it, and much else besides.
The Message from Jerusalem
American society faces a deep crisis of meaning to which the city, and the idea, of Jerusalem has an answer. It is needed by Jews, and as much or more by Christians.
Ecstasy and Amnesia in the Gaza Strip
Three catastrophes, all marked by euphoria at the start and denial at the end, have shaped the Palestinian predicament. Has the fourth arrived, and is the same dynamic playing out?
The Jews Will Have to Wait
In 1942 a band of Algerian Jews risked all to help the Allies invade North Africa. Then Washington betrayed them. Thus was born modern American Middle East policy.
The Restoration of the Jewish People
Unprecedented numbers of individuals with some historical connection to the Jewish people are seeking closer contact with it, and many are aspiring to join it.
That Holocaust Feeling
The Oscar-winning new film Son of Saul drops us into the heart of Auschwitz. What’s the point?
Jerusalem Syndrome at the Met
An exhibition on the diverse multiculturalism of medieval Jerusalem has been ecstatically received. There’s just one problem: the vision of history it promotes is a myth.
The Shameful Cover-Up of the Worst Attack on Diaspora Jews Since the Holocaust
A personal look at the 25 years that have passed since the bombing of an Argentine Jewish center that killed 85 people, with no progress toward justice.
The Death of Morton Sobell and the End of the Rosenberg Affair
With the recent death of the unrepentant spy, his story, along with that of other American Jews steeped in Communism, can finally be told.
The Great Arab Implosion and Its Consequences
Who or what will replace a century of failed Sunni Arab dominance? What, if anything, can the West do to help shape the future?